Friendship Bracelet
by madame of music
Summary: The trolls and humans have decided to have a gift exchange, but the catch is the gifts have to be homemade, and our dear Karkat has not an ounce of creativity. T for Karkles's mouth. Takes place on Earth, after Sburb/Sgrub. Happy Christmas in July!
1. Chapter 1

It was a week before the humans Twelfth Perigee's Eve, and Karkat was stumped. The trolls, or what was left of them, and the humans had decided to do a Secret Santa, who was apparently some happy old fat dude who ran around in an atrocious red suit, and crept into small human grubs windows and gave them gifts. And a _Secret Santa_ was when you pretended to be this fat dude and give each other presents well, secretly.  
This would normally be no problem, as the trolls went shopping quite a bit with no problems. But, this year, the gifts had to be homemade, thanks to one Miss Jade Harley and her ever doting sidekick Dave Strider, insisting that it meant more if the gifts were handmade, or some human bullshit like that. Karkat, of course, got John, the one person of whom annoyed and frustrated him to no end.  
Normally, he would have just bought John something anyway, but somehow Jade knew who he had gotten, and plainly told him, on NO uncertain terms what-so-ever that he was to make him something, otherwise she would kindly kick his ass to Easter. Not that he was afraid of her or anything. Nope, not at all. He just wasn't very partial to bruises and/or bleeding.  
So here he was. Stuck. What the fuck do you make for a boy like that. Sure, if he was Rose, he would probably knit him a sweater or some shit, and if he was Kanaya, he'd probably make him a new Heir of Breath outfit. But he wasn't knitting princess or fashion troll. He was even an artsy troll whatsoever. The extent of his craftiness was the glitter-and-noodle picture Strider made him make for "Ironic Purposes yo." He was Karkat Vantas. And he was stuck.

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A/N: I really wanted to do a Christmas in July fic, so here you go!


	2. Chapter 2

Karkat decided to ask Gamzee for some help. Normally, asking Gamzee for an idea would end in either a really dumb idea involving a mixture of Faygo, Sopor and Miracles, or a whole shitload of mindfuck, the latter usually the case thanks to Gamzee's insane ramblings.  
Expecting the worse, he showed up on Gamzee's doorstep the next morning, knocking loudly and yelling for him to wake his clown ass up, greeting his friend's whimsical grin with a scowl and a muttered, "Morning Fuckass." Gamzee brushed that off, and stepped aside, allowing Karkat into his house.  
"So best friend, what has brought you to my human hive?" The clown troll asked, smiling, and sitting across from the chair Karkat had taken. Karkat rolled his eyes, but answered anyway.  
"Gamzee, I need your help making a present for John. I know fuck-all about the kid, and making things not on the transportalizer." He said, glaring at Gamzee's atrociously colored sitting table.  
Gamzee smiled a dopey grin, and stayed silent for a bit, lost in his own world.  
"What about a motherfuckin friendship bracelet?" He replied, right before Karkat was about to get up and walk out, fed up with Gamzee's silence, finding someone else to help him.  
"What the hell is that?" He said, tone flat. A friendship bracelet? What the hell?  
"Well, best friend, it's a bracelet with a bunch of string you tie into knots that make cool motherfuckin patterns. It's pure miracles!" Gamzee said. "Jade taught me how to make them. I can teach you, if you want."  
Karkat thought for a moment, humming with concentration. It didn't seem too hard. Knots were simple, right? I mean, if Gamzee could do them, then Karkat could be the master.  
A few hours later, and a midsized pile of tangled string, he was yelling at his past self for even thinking such a stupid thing. Knots had to be the hardest thing ever. Gamzee wasn't the greatest teacher either, always getting distracted about how "motherfuckin beautiful" the colours were. Karkat sighed in frustration, and decided to call it a day. He thanked Gamzee, and decided to walk over to Kanaya's house to ask her about ideas.

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A/N: Karkat is an asshole :'D


	3. Chapter 3

"Well I think a friendship bracelet is a wonderful idea, Karkat! Is not John always calling you his friend after all?"  
"Yeah Karkat. It is a pretty good idea."  
After walking to Kanaya's house, and finding Rose there (surprise, surprise), he told them about the trip to Gamzee's, and asked them for other ideas. Surprisingly, they both agreed with Gamzee, much to Karkat's dismay.  
Karkat growled. "The only problem is, I still don't know how to make one, even if I didn't think it was a stupid fucking idea."  
The two girls smiled at each other. "Rose, be a dear and fetch the thread box." Kanaya asked Rose, who rose, going to get what she asked for. "Karkat, a friendship bracelet is simple. Rose and I will teach you." She said, turning her attention back to the frustrated troll. Taking the box Rose handed her, she sat next to Karkat. "Now, what colours does John like?"  
"Fuck if I know. Blue I think?" Karkat said. How the hell should he know? It's not like he's ever asked, or cared, for that matter.  
Rose chimed in. "He loves blue, any shade really, and green."  
Kanaya picked through the box for a minute, pulling out around 10 shades of blue and 5 of green. After helping Karkat choose some shades that went well together, she cut off some from the skeins, and showed him how to tie it.  
"Now Karkat, take the first string in the row, make a four on the next string, and flip the leftover in the hole." She demonstrated making a number four with the two strings, then tying them together. "You must do this twice on every string in the row, okay? Once you've tied it twice, move to the next string." She handed over the beginnings of a bracelet, indicating that he should try. After several failed attempts, he finally got a whole row.  
"HAHA take that string! I own you!" He jumped up in triumph, holding the string over his head and dancing around. He stopped and blushed when he noticed Kanaya and Rose giggling at his antics. He mumbled about stupid girls, and thanked them for their help before leaving.  
"No problem Karkat. I do hope that works out well for you." Kanaya said, smiling.

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A/N: I find the prospect of Kanaya and Rose teaching Karkat how to make a friendship bracelet highly amusing for some reason.


	4. Chapter 4

A few hours later, Karkat was ready to tear his hair out. It wasn't because friendship bracelets were hard, by any means. It was just they were so goddamned _boring_.  
He had worked fervently on tying knots together... For a good 20 minutes. Tying knots could only be entertaining for so long before he became restless. He would go back to it every half hour or so, working for five minutes before he grew bored once more. At this rate, he was never going to get it done in time for the Christmas Eve exchange. He sighed in frustration.  
A few days later, the day of the party, a half finished bracelet sat on his table. His eyes caught it, and Oh shit ran through his mind. He picked it up, and began tying knots as fast as he could, being careful not to get too messy. The boredom he felt previously disappeared as the panic that it might not be done in time took over.  
2 hours later, and he only had a few centimetres left to go. He glanced at his watch, and noticed he had 15 minutes to shower, get dressed and be across town.  
Well shit. Guess he would have to do it on his way there, because there was no way he was showing up to a party without a shower.  
He took a quick shower, donning a black, long-sleeved Polo Kanaya had bought him, and some black jeans. He reclasped the necklace with his ancestor's sign, pulling it into place like he did every day. The final step was to do something with his mess of hair. He tried brushing it like he normally did, but it looked out of place with the rest of his outfit. Taking some of the human substance they called 'Gel' he messed with it in his hair, finally deciding on a style that looked messy, but cared for. He smirked at himself in the mirror and walked out of the bathroom.  
He noticed he had a few minutes to spare before he had to leave, so he hurriedly finished the bracelet.  
He arrived at the party just in time. A chorus of greetings welcomed him, from humans and trolls alike. The party took place at Rose's house, her having the cleanest and biggest house among the kids. It was warm, which he was grateful for, just having driven over in a car with no heat, in frigid air.  
"Hey best friend." Gamzee said, startling Karkat as he came up behind him.  
"Oh hello fuckass." Karkat said, looking at Gamzee in shock. He looked... Cleaner than normal. He was wearing a purple and white striped polo, with a matching purple tie and black slacks. His hair looked brushed and cleaned for once. Karkat briefly wondered who had helped him, before his thoughts were interrupted by a cheery voice.  
"You look nice Karkat!" Said a cheery voice behind him. It was Jade, pulling Dave behind her. She was dressed in a simple green party dress. Her partner, however, to Karkat's profound amusement, dressed a little more interestingly. He had on a powder blue suit, with a neon pink disc symbol on his left breast pocket, topped with a matching rainbow, polka-dot tie and top hat. Wonderful.  
"Nice outfit Strider. Did a powder puff rainbow throw up on you, or are your sunglasses darker than I thought?" He said, raising and eyebrow and sniggering at the self-proclaimed cool kid.  
"Shut it Vantas. It's ironic, something your pea sized brain could only hope to understand." Dave snarked back, attempting to glare at Karkat through his aviators.  
"Hey! Karkat!" Karkat turned towards the voice that had interrupted the glaring match he was having with Dave.  
"John." Karkat acknowledged the cheerful boy, a bit begrudgingly. For once in his existence, John's hair looked like it had seen a brush, instead of the normal just-rolled-out-of-bed looked he usually sported.  
"Wow Karkat! You look great!" John said, enthusiastically pulling you into a hug, grinning like a child who had just found where their parents hid their Halloween stash.  
"Paws off fucker." Karkat growled back, pushing him away.  
John's huge smile faltered for a bit, then came back tenfold as he threw an arm over Karkat's shoulder. "Soooo Karkat," He said, impish grin replacing the friendly smile of moments before. "Who did you get Karkaaaaat?"  
"I'm not telling you. And I said Paws OFF." Karkat said, shrugging off John's arm and stomping toward the kitchen, leaving a slightly confused and possibly upset John in his wake.

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A/N: This chapter is longer than the others :'D

And my absolutely amazing and wonderful friend made some art for this chapter! ( art/ Karkles-for-Kywee-312800530) Remove spaces and parentheses!


	5. Chapter 5

Karkat stomped into the kitchen, grabbing a plastic cup off the counter and filling it with some red drink. He didn't care what it was, he just needed something to cool him off. He couldn't handle Strider and then Egbert, all in a 10 minute time span. Come to think of it, he doubted anyone could. He respected Jade and Rose for putting up with them as much as they did.  
"Karkat. What's wrong?" A soothing voice, along with a thin hand on his shoulder, came up behind him.  
"Strider and Egbert are fucking annoying Kanaya, that's what's wrong." He said, gripping the cup tighter and ingesting more of the syrupy liquid.  
"Karkat, it's Christmas Eve. Be more patient. Please? Besides, we're exchanging gifts right now, in the living room. Come on." She grabbed his hand, pulling him into the other room where the rest of the festivities were.  
He grumbled, but followed along, taking a seat on the floor as far away from Strider as possible and glowering (not pouting. Never.)  
"Jade, would you pass out the presents?" Rose said, turning to the seated girl, who was currently rocking back and forth in excitement. She jumped up, eagerly nodding her head. "Now," Rose said, turning to the rest of the circle as Jade occupied herself with the gifts. "Everyone will go one at a time, opening their present. You get three guesses as to who gave you yours. Whoever doesn't get their giver correct in their guesses must plan the party next year." The circle nodded in understanding, and having received their presents, began to eye the other party guests.  
"Jade, would you like to start?" Rose asked the girl, who was playing with the ribbon on her gift. She nodded, and shook it, and then began to unwrap it, revealing a chalk rendition of her in her Space outfit, that looked very much like her.  
She hummed, biting her lip. "Terezi?" She guessed, grinning at the picture, and then at the troll.  
"Yep!" Terezi said, cackling and showing her shark teeth.  
The next in the circle was Dave, who received a pink knitted sweartshirt, embroidered with a purple version of his scratched disc.  
He looked blankly at it for a second. "Rose." He guessed. She smirked, twirling a piece of her blonde hair in innocence.  
"I thought you'd appreciate the irony, dear brother." She said.  
"Course. I love it, dearest sister. This is the best present I've gotten since the pink earmuffs you knitted me last year." He said, throwing in a bit of his Texan twang and giving Rose a kiss on the cheek.  
"Point to Lalonde." Karkat thought, snorting at the thought of Dave in a completely pink ensemble, trying to look cool.  
Karkat ended up with a crushed Sopor Slime Pie from Gamzee, which looked several days old and which he would be sure to toss in the trash can as soon as he got home. Everyone else seemed content with their gifts, saving a pissed Strider. Last was John. As much as he would deny, Karkat held his breath, waiting for his reaction.  
John tore open the wrapping paper surrounding the small box Karkat had thrown the bracelet in last minute. He opened it, and pulled it out with a confused expression. "A friendship bracelet?" He asked, eyeing it. "Kanaya?" He guessed, looking at her. She shook her head, with a knowing expression.  
"Gamzee?" He said, looking at the troll who was gazing at his book of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff drawings in wonder.  
"Wasn't me." Gamzee said, grinning lazily at John.  
He paused, looking at everyone else in the circle in confusion. "Karkat?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. He doubted it was him, but who knew.  
"Yes fuckass. Took you long enough." Karkat rolled his eyes, secretly happy that John had finally gotten it.  
John smiled a large smile, even for him, and lunged across the circle, grabbing Karkat. "Gee thanks! Does this mean you won't say you hate me anymore? I mean it is a friendship bracelet and all." John looked at Karkat, who looked bewildered.  
"What the hell are you rambling on about now?" He said, attempting to pry John off of him.  
Kanaya smirked at Rose, and turned to Karkat. "Well Karkat. Generally when you give someone a friendship bracelet, it means you are very good friends."  
His eyes widened in realization, than narrowed at her. "Damn you Kanaya." She chuckled, and everyone began to clean up the wrapping paper. John had finally let go of Karkat, which he was thankful for. The boy had a grip of steel.  
He managed to fit his pie in with the trash, telling Gamzee he had stored in the cooling unit in Rose's kitchen.

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A/N: Second to last chapter! Karkat is a grumpy widdle troll.


	6. Chapter 6

After the party had died down, Karkat stood outside, taking in a breath of fresh air, watching snowflakes blanket the front yard. He heard the door open behind him, and close softly, and someone stand next to him.  
"Nice night, isn't it?" The voice said, resting his elbows on the railing.  
"I guess, if you have a grudge against your extremities. Do you not like your fingers or something John? Why are you out here?" Karkat said, sighing in sorrow for his lost peace.  
"I wanted to thank you Karkat. I really like the bracelet. My favourite colours too." John said, chuckling softly.  
"Yeah, yeah. It was nothing." Karkat said, attempting to hide his pink cheeks, which he would swear were from the cold weather.  
"Well I'm going to go home now. Merry Christmas Karkat!" John said, cheerily walking to his car.  
Karkat said nothing as he left, watching the car go down the street and out of his vision.  
"Yeah, yeah. Merry Christmas to you too John." The troll smiled softly, going back to watching the city's lights twinkle. He rather Christmas. He really did.

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A/N: Well that's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it!  
Merry Christmas in July!


End file.
